I've just finished teaching a senior seminar in which we critically analyze the Positive Psychology movement. This was an issue the students raised: that association with the broader positive thinking and new age movement could be destructive to the potential for the Positive Psychology movement and possibly Psychology as a whole.
Paul On Dec 9, 2011, at 12:54 PM, Jim Clark wrote: > Hi > > If you follow up many of these kinds of discussions, including this one > and the one mentioned by Michael S. on "(New) Atheism, Scientism, and > Open-mindedness", one in short order runs into the far-reaching fingers > of the John Templeton organization. Jerry Coyne has a nice (depending > on your perspective) take on Templeton and those taking its funding: > > http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/templeton-continues-to-conflate-science-and-woo/ > > It appears that some areas of academia besides administrators may be > for sale, as well as our politicians. The Positive Psychology Center at > Penn State got several millions of dollars from Templeton during its > early days. Despite the truly impressive list of scholars associated > with the center, follow the Conference link to learn about the Happiness > 2012 conference. What are people like Martin Seligman and Ellen Langer > doing on the same program with someone described as follows? > > "Lillian Too's 89 books on feng shui, astrology and Tibetan Buddhism > have collectively sold over ten million copies and translated into 30 > languages. An MBA graduate of Harvard Business School, Lillian headed > Dao Heng Bank in Hong Kong and acquired DRAGON SEED department store > group before retiring at 45 years to become a full time mother." > > No wonder it is difficult to disabuse students and the public about > quacky ideas when practitioners of these "dark arts" are equated with > some of our strongest scholars! > > Take care > Jim > > > James M. Clark > Professor of Psychology > 204-786-9757 > 204-774-4134 Fax > [email protected] > >>>> Jeffry Ricker <[email protected]> 09-Dec-11 10:41:01 > AM >>> > Hi all, > > I'm posting this to two listservs. I apologize to those who get two > copies of the message. > > Here are some excerpts from the blog post, "Can Science Explain > Everything?" The full text is here: > http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/can-science-explain-everything/27995 > > > Best, > Jeff > > ============== > > Can Science Explain Everything? > By David Wheeler > > There*s a new bully on the intellectual block, shoving scholars > around. Lots of them are caving into the threats. The bully*s name is > *scientism,* the belief that science has a monopoly on all real > knowledge. All other knowledge, scientism asserts, is simply opinion, > irrationality, or utter nonsense. > > That was the perspective Ian Hutchinson, professor of nuclear science > and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offered at > an event titled *Can Science Explain Everything?* at the American > Association for the Advancement of Science this week.... > > Science has two key elements, reproducibility and clarity, Hutchinson > said. Reproducibility means essentially that an experiment done in one > place by one person can be repeated somewhere else by someone else. > Clarity refers to the unambiguous nature of science*s measurements, > descriptions, and classifications. History is an example of a discipline > that has produced real knowledge that is not scientific knowledge.... > > Mr. Hutchinson listed other phenomena that may be *true* but that > he believes are outside of science*s scope: the beauty of a sunset, > the justice of a verdict, or the terror of a war. Many humans may share > similar perceptions of these phenomenon but the basis of those > perceptions will lack clarity. *Ambiguity is an intrinsic part of > these things,* he said. > > Where, exactly, does God fit into this picture? Mr. Hutchinson says > that while the universe has physical laws, God may be behind them. > Science would be helpless to detect an act of God that violates the laws > of physics since it would not be reproducible. Scientists should have no > problem being religious, he said. > -- > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Jeffry Ricker, Ph.D. > SCC: Professor of Psychology > MCCCD: General Studies Faculty Representative > PSY 101 Website: http://sccpsy101.wordpress.com/ > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Scottsdale Community College > 9000 E. Chaparral Road > Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626 > Office: SB-123 > Phone: (480) 423-6213 > Fax: (480) 423-6298 > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=14799 > > or send a blank email to > leave-14799-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263003&n=T&l=tips&o=14804 > or send a blank email to > leave-14804-13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=14820 or send a blank email to leave-14820-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
